Project 2.5: Formation and composition of core-dominated planets

Project 2.5 is led by Yann Alibert, and structured around two different axes. The first axis consists in the study of planet formation in different environments, with a focus on gas-poor planets and their volatile content. These planets are indeed the only ones that can potentially be habitable, so the study of their formation and composition is of fundamental importance. The second axis is to develop advanced statistical techniques, inspired by machine learning and big data science , in order to process the vast amount of data coming from both simulations and present-day and future observations.

Planet formation in different environments

We develop planetary system formation models, based on either planetesimal or pebble accretion, and for solar and low-mass stars. See more on our dedicated page.

Formation of a planetary system around a Trappist-1 like star. The horizontal axis shows the semi-major axis of the planets (initially 50 planetary embryos), the vertical axis showing their mass. The size of the center of the symbols representing planets is proportional to their core radius, and the size of the layer above the center is proportional to the thickness of the planets’ atmosphere. Finally, the color code represents the amount of ices in the planet. At some point on the video, the mean motion resonances appear on the plot, and, towards the end, the location of the Trappist-1 system in the diagram appear.

Exemple of dimensionality reduction (a type of unsupervised machine learning technique). In the video, the location of points (each of them representing a planetary system) is computed in order to reflect the similarity between planetary systems (closer points represent similar planetary systems).